Hermitage fellow Vijay Iyer receives MacArthur Fellow

Twenty-four creative people receive MacArthur Fellows annually, a $625,000 stipend paid over five years with no strings attached. This year, Vijay Iyer, a Hermitage Artist Retreat fellow, was one of the lucky 24 recipients. Iyer is a 41-year-old Grammy-nominated composer and pianist with 15 albums under his belt. He’s most known for collaborating with poets.

He was quoted in The New York Times in an article about the recipeints of the MacArthur ‘Genius’ Awards saying, “A life in the arts is a life of service, Yo-Yo Ma once told me. That sits well with me.”

In 2012, The Hermitage Artist Retreat and the Greenfield Foundation gave Iyer a $30,000 Greenfield Prize in the form of a commission for his music. He will present his Greenfield Prize commission on April 10, at the Sarasota Opera House as part of La Musica’s 2014 program.